'Tortured Poets Department' Lyrics And Easter Eggs: What Does 'TTPD' Mean?
Taylor Swift's new album, "Tortured Poets Department," is finally upon us and it's filled with heartbreaking lyrics and easter eggs.
While most songs were predicted to be about Swift's longtime lover and ex-boyfriend, Joe Alwyn, it turns out her short-term fling with 1975's Matty Healy takes the spotlight in this new record.
The title track is also about Swift's brief romance with the artist.
"TTPD" Easter Eggs
1. Typewriter
In the title track "The Tortured Poets Department," Swift starts the song with, "you left your typewriter at my apartment" -- a nod to Healy who once revealed in a GQ interview that he likes writing songs using typewriters.
She follows it with the line, "I think some things I never say/ 'Like who uses typewriters anyway?'"
2. Self-Sabotage Mode
The 34-year-old artist also talks about the song's muse being in "self-sabotage mode" which could be about the frontman's questionable behavior during and after the months they were dating.
These red flags include mocking Swift's BFF Ice Spice, doing the Nazi salute, kissing fans during performances, eating raw meat and admitting to watching "brutalized" women in porn.
3. Chelsea Hotel
In the chorus, the new billionaire sings the lyrics, "I laughed in your face and said/ "You're not Dylan Thomas, I'm not Patti Smith/ This ain't the Chelsea Hotel/ We'rе modern idiots."
Thomas and Smith are renowned poets who both resided in the Chelsea Hotel. The line could be seen as self-deprecating in that the singer says the two artists are not on the same level as these literary icons, they're just "modern idiots."
4. Chocolate
In the second verse, the "Eras Tour" hitmaker wrote the line, "You smoked then ate seven bars of chocolate." Healy is known to be a smoker and his band has a massive hit entitled "Chocolate" from 2013.
5. Tattooed Golden Retriever
In "TTPD," Swift also calls her muse a "tattooed golden retriever," another seeming nod to the 35-year-old artist who has many inks on his body.
6. Boygenius
According to Parade, Healy is friends with boygenius, and "Lucy" and "Jack" in the bridge lyrics of "The Tortured Poets Department" could be Lucy Dacus of boygenius and Jack Antonoff, Swift's longtime collaborator and producer.
"But you told Lucy you'd kill yourself if I ever leave/ And I had said that to Jack about you so I felt seen."
"The Tortured Poets Department" Complete Lyrics
Read through Taylor Swift's title track's lyrics and see if it's really 1975's Matt Healy being sung about in this hit.
Lyrics courtesy of Genius.
[Verse 1]
You left your typewriter at my apartment
Straight from the tortured poets department
I think some things I never say
"Like who uses typewriters anyway?"
But you're in self-sabotage mode
Throwing spikes down on the road
But I've seen this episode and still love the show
Who else decodes you?
[Chorus]
And who's gonna hold you?
Like me
And who's gonna know you?
If not me
I laughed in your face and said, "You're not Dylan Thomas, I'm not Patti Smith
This ain't the Chelsea Hotel, we'rе modern idiots"
And who's gonna hold you?
Like me
[Post-Chorus]
No, nobody
No-f**king-body
Nobody
[Verse 2]
You smokеd then ate seven bars of chocolate
We declared Charlie Puth should be a bigger artist
I scratch your head, you fall asleep
Like a tattooed golden retriever
But you awaken with dread
Pounding nails in your head
But I've read this one where you come undone
I chose this cyclone with you
[Chorus]
And who's gonna hold you?
Like me (Who's gonna hold you?)
And who's gonna know you? (Who's gonna hold you?)
Like me
I laughed in your face and said, "You're not Dylan Thomas, I'm not Patti Smith
This ain't the Chelsea Hotel, we're modern idiots"
And who's gonna hold you?
Like me (Who's gonna hold you?)
No, nobody (Who's gonna hold you?)
No-f**king-body (Who's gonna hold you?)
Nobody (Who's gonna hold you?)
[Bridge]
Sometimes I wonder if you're gonna screw this up with me
But you told Lucy you'd kill yourself if I ever leave
And I had said that to Jack about you so I felt seen
Everyone we know understands why it's meant to be
Because we're crazy
So tell me who else is gonna love you? Like me
At dinner you take my ring off my middle finger and put it on the one people put wedding rings on
And that's the closest I've come to my heart exploding
[Chorus]
Who's gonna hold you? Me
Who's gonna know you? Me
And you're not Dylan Thomas, I'm not Patti Smith
This ain't the Chelsea Hotel, we're two idiots
Who's gonna hold you?
Who's gonna hold you?
Who's gonna hold you?
Who's gonna hold you?
Who's gonna hold you?
Who's gonna hold you?
Who's gonna hold you?
Who's gonna hold you?
Gonna know you?
[Outro]
You left your typewriter at my apartment
Straight from the tortured poets department
Who else decodes you?
